This invention relates to an improved liquid and solid dispenser apparatus and method.
For years deer hunters have had a persistent challenge of luring the elusive mature buck to a wildlife feeder at feeding time. If the hunter adjusts his wildlife feeder to broadcast early morning and late afternoon, which is the normal feed time for deer, he will probably have a good chance of seeing deer. The mature bucks will often feed at night or not at all from the "wildlife feeder" if they sense the presence of man in their habitat. However, during deer mating (rutting) season a buck will follow his primal instincts and chase a doe, if he smells her scent, and not worry about his own safety.
Both manual and automatically driven feed dispensers have been known in the art for quite some time. The application of scent in the area of the feed and on the feed itself is also known. An example of a wild life feeder is disclosed in Wentworth, U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,701 which utilizes an elongated rod to control the dispensing of feed and which prohibits the dispensing of the entire feed supply when the activating device is maintained in one position. Automatic feeding devices for animals are also known in the art as exemplified by Crippen, U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,913, North, U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,404, and Ruth, U.S. Pat. No. 3,678,902. Each of these patents utilize timers to activate the feeders intermittently. Crippen discloses a rotating turntable having a cone-shaped dispersing means centrally thereof positioned underneath the compartment containing feed to receive feed discharged from the container and to distribute the feed outwardly 6 to a feed trough surrounding the turntable. Ruth discloses a timed animal feeder which is responsive to sunrise and sunset in which feed slides out a shoot in response to the operation of the timer. Ruth also discloses a water container with a spigot for dispensing water at the same time grain is dispensed.
Other feeders that also water or add moisture to feed are also known in the art as exemplified by Cawecki, U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,191 and Geerlings, U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,081. Cawecki discloses an automatic, stable, pet feeding and watering device that dispenses food and water at pre-determined intervals, and that is stable against being accidentally turned over by the feeding pet. Geerlings discloses a feeder for supplying feed for animals and for adding moisture thereto without excess and thereafter removing the moist feed from the moistening area and depositing the same in a feeding area for consumption by the animals with or without additional moisture added.
A drawback to the feeders known in the art is that no provision is made for the addition of a lure to attract animals to the feed. None add a scent to the feed that is distributed and those that dispense water along with the feed would be ill equipped to provide the scent to those mechanically complicated dispensing mechanisms should this new use be attempted. In this regard, the metering devices known to the art are mechanically complicated and are neither self metering nor self-cleaning. Thus, there is a need in the art for providing a simultaneous scent and feed dispenser which automatically dispenses scent through a mechanically simple self metering, self cleaning valve so that a lure enhancement is added to the feed at the time feed is dispensed. It, therefore is an object of this invention to provide an improved feeding mechanism, such as the wild life feeder, for simultaneously adding a lure enhancement as the feed is dispensed.